Fruit crisps easy as pie

McClatchy Newspapers (MCT) - The cooking skills required for making apple crisp are minimal. If you know how to slice an apple, measure flour, brown sugar and oats, you can make a delicious dessert.

While a fruit crisp is an easy dessert to make, the aroma of fresh baked fruit and cinnamon will wow everyone who comes into your kitchen.

Simply place fruit in a baking pan and cover it with a streusel-type topping. The hardest part is preparing the fruit.

You can use apples, pears, stone fruits, tart cherries, berries or a combination, and even if you don't have fresh fruit, you can use canned or frozen.

An apple crisp is a good choice for the novice cook. Apples are available all year, although they're usually better and cheaper in the fall. When baking and making pies, choose a firm apple. According to the Washington Apple Commission, you can always increase the sweetness or acidity of the product by adding sugar or a few drops of lemon juice to the recipe.

The best apple crisp is made with a blend of sweet and tart apples such as Golden Delicious, Braeburn and Jonagold (sweet); and Granny Smith, Empire and Cortland (tart).

Other ingredients are brown sugar, flour, oats, cinnamon and butter. You can jazz it up with nuts if you like.

Here are some cooking tips for these ingredients.

Brown sugar

Brown sugar, whether light or dark, is simply white sugar with molasses added. Dark brown sugar has more molasses and thus a stronger flavor than light brown. If brown sugar is exposed to air, moisture in the molasses can evaporate, causing the brown sugar to dry out. To revive hard brown sugar, spread it on a pie plate (or square of aluminum foil) and place in a 250-degree oven for 3 to 7 minutes, checking often. Cool the softened sugar before using.

If you don't have dark brown sugar, add 2 tablespoons molasses to 1 cup granulated sugar and pulse three or four times in a food processor; to approximate light brown sugar, add 1 tablespoon molasses to 1 cup granulated sugar, and pulse.

Pouring brown sugar out of its narrow box into a measuring cup can be a messy chore. Transfer the brown sugar to a large, heavy-duty zip-top bag, which allows the sugar to remain moist during storage. Also, a measuring cup fits inside the bag easily and can be filled by pressing the sugar into it through the plastic.

Flour

If you are going to have only one flour in the house, Cook's Illustrated recommends King Arthur unbleached all-purpose flour or Pillsbury unbleached enriched all-purpose flour.

Oats

At the supermarket you'll find a variety of oats: instant, quick, rolled (old-fashioned), steel-cut and oat groats. Choose steel-cut oats because they make the best oatmeal.

Butter

For a crisp topping, most recipes call for softened or chilled butter, depending on the method you use for cutting the butter into the flour ­mixture. The easiest way to soften butter is to put sticks on the countertop and forget about them for an hour or two. But most of us don't want to wait. Microwaving it is the next option, but that can be tricky.

Here's a foolproof method: Place a stick of butter on a small microwave-safe plate. Place the plate in the microwave and heat for 1 minute at 10 percent power. Press on the butter with your finger to see whether it is sufficiently softened; if not, heat for an additional 40 seconds at 10 percent power.

Cinnamon

A dash of cinnamon is not only pleasing to our senses, it also has one of the highest anti-oxidant levels of any spice. You'll find as many anti-oxidants in 1 teaspoon of cinnamon as a full cup of pomegranate juice or ˝ cup of blueberries, according to McCormick Spices. Nutmeg and mace also can be used.

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CORE CONTENT: CUTTING, SLICING TIPS FOR APPLES

Here are some tips for preparing apples for the crisp.

Coring: Insert corer directly into the center of the apple; twist with even pressure and lift up to remove the core.

Peeling and paring: Paring may be done before or after the apple is cut. However, it's faster to peel the whole apple. Use a sharp knife, and with a slight side motion, cut the peel or skin away or "strip peel" the apple in a continuing spiral.

To make rings and circles: Core, then slice apples crosswise in any thickness.

For half circles: Halve apples from top to bottom before slicing crosswise. This may be done before or after the fruit has been cut.

For tidbits: Remove the core and cut each apple into eighths. Cut each eighth into bite-sized pieces or wedges.

For slices and quarters: Halve the apple lengthwise and remove the core. Cut lengthwise into pieces or slices.

For chunks or pieces: Cut apple in half lengthwise and then crosswise. Remove core, cut each quarter into three or four large pieces.

For sticks: Remove stem and blossom end of apple and core. Cut lengthwise through the apple and place half, core side down, on cutting board. Slice evenly lengthwise.

Source: Washington Apple Commission

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Crisp recipes:

APPLE CRISP

6 medium tart cooking apples (see below for substitutions)

ľ cup packed brown sugar

˝ cup all-purpose flour

˝ cup quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats

ľ teaspoon ground cinnamon

ľ teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/3 cup butter or margarine, room temperature

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Peel apples, if desired. Cut apples into quarters. Cut the core and remove seeds from the center of each quarter. Cut each quarter into slices. You will need about 6 cups of apple slices. Spread slices in an ungreased 8-inch square pan.

In a medium bowl, mix brown sugar, flour, oats, cinnamon and nutmeg. Cut in the butter by pulling two table knives through ingredients in opposite directions or toss with fork until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle mixture evenly over apples.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until topping is golden brown and apples are tender when pierced with a fork. Serve warm with ice cream or half-and-half. Makes 6 servings.

Nutritional information per serving: 350 calories, 11 g. fat, 25 mg. cholesterol, 85 mg. sodium, 59 g. carbohydrate, 5 g. dietary fiber, 3 g. protein.

Blueberry crisp: Substitute 6 cups fresh or frozen blueberries for apples. If using frozen blueberries, thaw and drain them first.

Rhubarb crisp: Substitute 6 cups cut-up fresh rhubarb for apples. Sprinkle ˝ cup granulated sugar over rhubarb; stir to combine. If rhubarb is frozen, thaw and drain.

From "Betty Crocker Cooking Basics"

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MASTER RECIPE FOR FRUIT CRISP

7 cups fruit, prepared (see list below)

1 teaspoon lemon zest, grated

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

˝ cup unbleached all-purpose flour

˝ cup quick-cooking oats

˝ teaspoon ground cinnamon or nutmeg

Ľ teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons butter, cut into small bits (chilled, if using food processor)

2 tablespoons vegetable shortening, cut into small bits (chilled, if using food processor)

Suggested fruit:

2˝ pounds apples (about 6 apples), peeled, cored, and thinly sliced

2 pounds apricots (15 to 20), pitted and quartered

2 pounds berries, rinsed and patted dry; if tart, add 1 tablespoon or more of sugar to taste

2˝ to 3 pounds nectarines or peaches (8 to 10 pieces of fruit), peeled, pitted and cut into sixths

2˝ to 3 pounds pears (6 to 7 pears), peeled, cored, and thinly sliced

3 pounds plums (15 to 20), pitted and quartered

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Toss fruit with lemon zest and juice in a large bowl. Spread evenly in 8-inch square baking pan, pressing down lightly.

Mix next 5 ingredients in a medium bowl or in work bowl of a food processor, then add butter and shortening. If mixing by hand, use fingertips, pastry blender or 2 forks to blend fat into dry ingredients until mixture looks like coarse irregular crumbs, with no visible lumps of fat. If mixing in a food processor, pulse about 10 times, then process 5 to 10 seconds, until there are no visible lumps of fat.

Spread topping over prepared fruit; bake for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees; back until topping browns and fruit is tender when pierced, 30 to 40 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

From Cook's Illustrated

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© 2009, Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Ky.).